


Into the Primitive

by ZaliaChimera



Category: The Walk (Game)
Genre: Betrayal, Espionage, Gen, Hiding, Implied/Referenced Terrorism, Injury, Injury Recovery, Male-Female Friendship, Military, Women in the Military
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-16
Updated: 2014-01-16
Packaged: 2018-01-08 21:40:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1137691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZaliaChimera/pseuds/ZaliaChimera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a harrowing attack, Lawrence and Stanton talk. Spoilers up until end of Episode 9 (Homo Homini Lupus)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Into the Primitive

"Hold still, Lawrence!"

"But it hurts!"

"It will hurt a great deal more if it turns out you have been bitten," Stanton says, helping Lawrence to ease his jumper off. The sleeve is rather torn, as had been the sleeve of his coat, but there's no blood that she can see. 

"Oh god, I'm gonna die aren't I?" Lawrence says, keeping his head turned away. "I can't look. It's bleeding. I know it is. I can feel it."

Stanton stifles a sigh and rolls up the sleeve of his shirt. Pink marks and dips in his skin, the beginnings of bruises, but that's all. No blood. She doubts he would have been waving it around so much if it was broken and she can't feel any sign of that. "Lawrence."

"It's bad isn't it?" he says. "I'm gonna get rabies or something. Wait, do wolves have rabies?"

"Who knows what they're carrying?" Emma interrupts, glancing over from where she's helping Paul eat with only one working arm. "What with the government using them as their trained attackers in case people get too close to their top secret research facilities."

"I rather doubt a rabid wolf would have made it through quarantine," Stanton replies, a little more sharply than she'd perhaps intended. "There was enough fuss raised about reintroducing them as it was. And the government has far more effective ways of keeping people away than letting wolves after them," she says, glancing over at the other woman.

Emma sets her jaw, obviously about to argue, but Paul makes a noise of pain and she's instantly softness and care, turning back to him. Thank goodness for small mercies.

"So, what's the diagnosis?" Lawrence asks, worrying his lip between his teeth and glancing up at her with a worried expression.

"I think you'll live," Stanton replies dryly, stretching out his arm so that he can see the unbroken skin. "You'll bruise, but that's all."

"Oh," Lawrence says, letting out a huff of breath and sounding like he can't decide whether to be relieved or embarrassed. Embarrassment seems to win out and he ducks his head, suddenly very interested in his shoelaces. "Well, that's good then! Yeah."

He looks rather pitiful and Stanton takes pity on him. "People often feel as though wounds are worse than they are. It's better to brace yourself."

"Yeah, yeah! That makes sense." He perks up a little at that, looking at her for a moment before peering at his arm, fingers tracing over the marks on his skin from the wolf's teeth. He pauses, sniffing a little. "Oh, is that food?"

"Yes, soup," Stanton replies, amusement in her voice. "Walker made it while you were recovering from your grievous injury."

"Hey!" Lawrence replies, giving her a pouting hurt look. "I thought I was gonna lose my arm!"

"Does your wound allow you to eat by yourself, or do I need to feed you?" she asks. 

"I'm fine, I can feed myself," he says grudgingly, the very picture of injured pride. He uncurls, shaking out his arm, and then goes over to where they've lit a fire. It's big enough to warm the cabin at least, although she doesn't like it. The smoke makes them more obvious and if Charlie can see them, then others can too.

He comes back with two bowls, camping ones that they'd found in one of the cabin's cupboards, and holds one out to her. "I uh... guess you haven't eaten since you were taking care of me," he says, a touch sheepishly.

"Thankyou, Lawrence," Stanton says, taking the bowl and proffered spoon. For a moment, she just lets the warmth seep into her hands. It's getting colder. It will probably just get worse as they head into the Cairngorms. She's been on training exercises up there, seen how bad it can get, and that's with trained and hardened soldiers. For all of their determination, they're civilians, or she assumes so. Lawrence, Emma and Paul, at least. Walker is... difficult to read. Determination will only get them so far.

Lawrence draws his knees up, wiggling his toes closer to the fire as he eats, slowly relaxing. "Oh, this is nice. I always thought hiking would be more like this and less, you know, people trying to kill me."

Stanton gives a soft snort. "I'm sure that hiking doesn't usually involve getting shot at. I couldn't possibly comment."

Lawrence pauses at that, and gives her a questioning look that she pretends to be oblivious to. He chews on his lip, runs his thumb along the edge of the bowl and he's an open book really. This is one of the people they're trusting their future to. "Stanton," he says after a long moment of indecision, "you've been to war, right?"

She sets her spoon down first, settling the bowl in her lap before responding. "I have, yes. I was in Iraq and Afghanistan before that."

He squirms a little in discomfort and it reminds her of how young he is. What she wouldn't give for Adebayo at her side. He understood her. She, obviously, hadn't understood him half as well as she'd believed. 

"Is it like this?" he asks and then frowns. "I mean... it's weird. We were being shot at! Hunted by wolves and now we're here eating soup while Emma indoctrinates Paul on the finer points of ESP."

There's a soft 'oi!' from across the room, but Emma seems too occupied to really protest.

"It's just _odd_ , you know?" Lawrence continues doggedly. "Lots of honestly, pretty tedious walking and occasional moments of mind-numbing fear. I don't exactly feel like James Bond."

She could lie. It would be easy to play things down, to prettify it as she has before. She tries not to, but there are some things that are not so easy to describe to people who've never experienced them. "It's often like this," she begins. "Long periods of nothing happening, waiting for orders, and then something happens and for a short time all you can do is react and work on instinct."

"Oh," Lawrence says, his shoulders slumping, a thoughtful frown on his face. "I hadn't realised it was possible to be bored and on edge at the same time."

"I know what you mean," Stanton says quietly and casts a glance towards the window. They've heard nothing since escaping but that means little if the Burn have the resources they've been led to believe they do. "Even when nothing's happening, you're waiting for it to happen. Anticipation really does get to you."

"Yeah," Lawrence says, "that's... pretty much how I feel right now. Waiting. I mean, don't get me wrong! Not being shot at or attacked by rabid wolves or having a city bombed around you is great, and I like that there are walls and a roof, but... I just keep looking at the window. Waiting. I'm really not cut out for this," he groans, dropping his head back against the wall with a soft thunk.

"I'm not sure that anyone is."

He glances over at her, a sardonic look on his face. "Oh come on, Stanton. You must be an old pro at this! You fought off a wolf like it was something that just happens normally. I mean, thanks for that by the way. I like having my limbs in tact."

"You're welcome. We don't have the supplies to take care of more injuries." They don't have the supplies to take care of Paul's injuries as it is. "Contrary to your belief, I'm not actually a superhero."

"I dunno. You do make a pretty amazing Wonder Woman," Lawrence says, and oh lord, the look he gives her, shy and suggestive all at once, a boyish stubbornness about him.

Stanton raises an eyebrow at him, and he shrugs one shoulder, a helpless little gesture. "Lawrence," she begins, and she truly has no idea what to follow it up with. It isn't anything that she had ever expected to deal with when he and Walker had come onto her base, lost and confused and practically broadcasting that they were up to no good. And he is a boy, and she is not young. "Tell me about her," she says suddenly, impulsively, "about this Soleil of yours. She must be something special to make you sign up for this." 

Lawrence looks taken aback, surprised that anyone remembered, or perhaps that he hasn't spoken more about her. "Well she's- she's really amazing," he says, shoulders slumping at the lameness of the answer. "No, really she is. She's beautiful and- god, I sound so shallow," he says with a weak laugh. "But she is. And smart. Much smarter than I am. She's one of those people who, y'know, everything they touch works out, turns to gold."

"You're doing a PhD.," Stanton points out. "That takes a certain amount of skill and talent." 

He flashes her a grateful smile. "Well, yeah. I'm not dumb but in the end, I'm just one of many. I'll get my PhD., get a job, be just another person with a few letters next to his name. Soleil though, oh my god... She'll change the world, I'm sure of it." He sighs and rakes a hand through his hair, the bruised arm, and he winces and drops it quickly. "I could never live up to that! I could barely even manage to talk to her when she was over here so I just thought- maybe if I _do_ something, something cool, something important, the Professor would put in a good word for me, I'd have a proper excuse to talk to her and maybe knowing I'd done something to earn it would help me, y'know, not turn into a gibbering idiot."

She cannot help an amused look at that, a little sympathy for his self-depreciation. "You certainly have earned that good word by now," Stanton says. 

"Yeah, well," Lawrence replies with a wry smile, "I was expecting a nice cushy- well, cushy by comparison, you know how the trains are -train ride and instead I've been arrested, shot at and attacked by wolves. Makes even battling the rail network sound good."

"I think you might be being generous there."

Lawrence laughs and after the last couple of days, laughter is surprising enough that Walker glances over and Paul stirs and Emma takes note. With all of the attention on him, he looks awkward, and waits until their attention moves elsewhere before he replies. "I don't know. I once managed to actually catch a train that was on time! I got a seat and everything!"

"Oh? And how much did that cost you?" she asks, smiling despite herself.

"Oh, only half a year's salary and my firstborn child."

"I didn't realise they accepted children as currency," Stanton replies dryly.

He snickers again, shaking his head. "You know, I was really, really scared of you when we first met, but you're pretty cool."

"You should be scared," Stanton replies, lips pursing together for a moment. "I didn't rise through the ranks by being nice. I would quite willingly have handed you over to the authorities if Charlie hadn't helped you."

He sobers quickly at that, casting a wary glance towards the window. Stanton feels a little bad for bringing him back to reality, but can they really afford to do otherwise? "Yeah. That was pretty lucky," he says, sounding a trifle uneasy. She can hardly blame him. He lets out a breath and then looks back at her, his gaze curiously intent. "Why did you help us, Stanton?" he asks.

"I thought I'd made my reasons clear."

"It was kind of a blur of national security and secret codes and getting sold out," Lawrence says and Stanton feels a stab of hurt at the thought of Adebayo. Best not to dwell.

"I swore to protect my country," she says simply.

"Yeah but- but you didn't have to help us. You certainly didn't have to come with us. You could have just contacted your superiors."

"That's probably what I should have done," Stanton admits uneasily. "But the code that Charlie gave you, it means that the chain of command is compromised. Even if my direct superiors are on the level, it would have gone higher, involved more people."

"But you could've," Lawrence says, the frown crinkling between his eyes. "No-one would've blamed you for doing that and you wouldn't be on the run now and if they find us..."

"I could have," she agrees solemnly. "No-one could fault me for doing that, no matter how things end up." Following the chain of command, following orders. "But I took an oath. Protect my country and its people and sometimes following the rules isn't enough. You have to take risks."

Lawrence stares at her for a moment, his eyes a little wide. "I didn't know people like you really existed," he says, like she's some amazing discovery.

"Bitter and jaded military ladies? We exist," Stanton replies dryly.

"No!" Lawrence says quickly, flushing a little. The curse of pale skin. "I just mean, oh god, I'm terrible at this. People who do the right thing for the right reasons, even if it might end badly for them. I mean, look at me!" he says, giving another of those self-depreciating looks. "Here I am, going to all this trouble because I like a girl. it's not exactly noble. But you! You didn't even need to be involved but you... you fought off a wolf to save me."

"Honestly, Lawrence," she says, something warm in her voice, because his certainty is refreshing she admits, "with what is happening, I doubt that anyone can stay uninvolved for long, even if only in small ways."

"But you threw yourself in," Lawrence says and he's still looking at her like that, putting her on a pedestal, and it leaves her oddly uncomfortable. "Even after Adebayo..."

"I _think_ ," she says sharply, too quick to make it seem like it doesn't still hurt, "that it is for the best that I found out sooner rather than later."

Lawrence falls silent, opens his mouth to say something and then, wisely, closes it again. He clenches his jaw, staring down at the dusty cabin floor. "You guys were close."

He just can't leave well enough alone. Not that she can really comment considering her current situation. "Yes. We are- were- friends."

"You're angry."

"Can you blame me?" she asks bluntly. "I trusted him. And all this time he was working with a terrorist group right under my nose! No-one likes being played for a fool, but when it brings my judgment and matters of national security into the mix-"

It makes her question so many things. How many orders had been tainted by corruption? How many times had she inadvertently been working for The Burn and New Tomorrow? The thought is decidedly unsettling.

"It's not your fault though," Lawrence says earnestly. "You couldn't have known."

"Someone has to take responsibility, Lawrence," she says firmly. "It might as well be me. And that means seeing you safely to Edinburgh, no matter the danger."

"Well, I'm definitely not going to complain about having you around," Lawrence says with a lopsided smile. "Pretty sure I'd've been eaten by now, or got shot attempting to hold off terrorists with paint ball guns."

"We'll see how much you complain when we set off again," Stanton says wryly. "I have been told that I'm something of a slave driver when it comes to marching."

Lawrence grimaces. "I didn't say I wouldn't complain about the situation in general," he says. "Just not about having you with us. God, I wish I'd gone to the gym more. Or at all."

"I'm sure you'll find that adrenaline is a wonderful motivator," Stanton replies. 

"Great. It's just Walker is like- like a machine out there," Lawrence says. "You'd think they'd been doing it their entire life."

"Maybe they have," she says, glancing over at Walker surreptitiously. Walker is particularly difficult to read, inscrutable even during their first meeting. She looks back at Lawrence. "Strange times for all of us. I'm sure you'll pick things up as we go along, Lawrence."

"I suppose I should look on it as a chance to lose the extra pounds. That'll teach me to choose a discipline which has me at a desk for a lot of the day."

"I'll be sure to recommend it. The terrorist survival diet," she says, smiling in amusement. "I'm sure there's a market for it."

"It does sound like the kind of thing people pay a fortune for," Lawrence says. "Not any weirder than like a- a diet where you eat foods based on colour or something. Or where you eat bugs. We're not gonna have to eat bugs are we?" he asks with a grimace.

"I certainly hope not. You will, however, have to get used to sleeping rough. There aren't many five star hotels in the Cairngorms, not ones that won't be watched at least."

"I suppose it wouldn't be much of a story really, if we just got to check into-" He stifles a yawn with his hand, gives her an apologetic look. "Sorry, if we got to just check into a nice hotel for the night and then be on our way. 'How did you manage to thwart terrorists?' 'Oh, I ate a filling breakfast and went on a leisurely stroll through the hills'. Doesn't have much weight to it. Can't tell my future kids that."

"You're rambling, Lawrence," Stanton says quietly, with a look that veers close to fond. 

"Really? Surprised you can tell the difference," Lawrence replies, giving her a lopsided smile. "You're right though. I'm pretty tired. Apparently running for your life does that to you."

"It can have that effect I've found. I suppose it's better than insomnia." Because they didn't need to be jumping at shadows when they were already being hunted. There was a fine line between the paranoia that kept you safe and the kind which paralysed you. "We have a few blankets and bed rolls. I'll take watch for now."

"Are you sure?" Lawrence said, but she could see the longing glance that he cast towards the pile of gear. 

"I'm sure. I'll feel better if I keep an eye on things." She could warn them better, and if there was another traitor in their midst, it made it more difficult for them. Anything that made it more difficult for the burn was a good thing in her mind right now.

"Alright, Elizabeth," Lawrence said, going over to grab himself a blanket and bedroll and trying to set it up to be as comfortable as possible. "Oh god, what I wouldn't give for a real bed right now."

"Lawrence," she says firmly, the ridiculousness of it hitting her, "go to sleep. Thinking will just make it worse." God, what she wouldn't give for Adebayo to be here. Someone who knows her, who knows how she works and doesn''t need to be coddled every minute. 

"Right. Yeah. Sorry. Sleeping now." He falls silent for a few moments and Stanton begins to relax, only for him to sit up again. "Thanks, Stanton," he says. "Wake me up if you need anything."

She nods slowly. "I will. Sleep well, Lawrence."

He drifts off quickly enough, and the others had gone to sleep, or to try to sleep a while ago, leaving her alone with her thought for now.

Somewhere outside, a wolf howls.


End file.
